Writer's Notes:
Hello! This is my first attempt of writing fan fiction. Hope you will enjoy and reviews/comments are most welcome!
This story is set after the defeat of Sauron, which marks the beginning of Fourth Age in Middle Earth. Timeline is not significant at the beginning, but as the story continues more references will be pointing back to canon. I try to make my characters and settings as realistic as possible, but there certainly have limitations to get there. Come on, we are talking about Elves, how realistic can we get? ^_^;;
I don't want to discuss too much about the background setting now, as I hope the story will explain itself as it unfolds. However one important assumption I have made in my story is that people in this world haven't heard of The Lord of the Rings and its related books at all. They may heard of Elves from legends and myths but the works of our beloved Tolkien just don't exist. Which means that my characters will not have the advantage of learning the history of Middle Earth in advance or predict its future. ;-)
Disclaimer: I do not own Tolkien's work, of course.
Chapter 1 - First Contact
Shannon checked the time from her iPhone again, which indicated she still had five minutes left before the estimated time. She quickly switched off her car and got out, hurried to the car trunk and hurled out a lightweight, foldaway lounger. She carried it around ten paces away, double checked the coordinates with her space app and set the lounger facing the correct direction. She lay down with a sigh of relief, relishing again her luck of finding the lounger from the web with a bargain price. She bought it ever since she started to indulge in her recently found passion: stargazing. She was still at amateur stage, following tickers from space apps and drove off to a nearby open field for star observation whenever her work didn't drag her too late into the night.
She glanced around and was a bit surprised she was virtually the only occupant of this location at the moment. The field, or a pasture with a few tall pine trees erected oldly at the east to be exact, was just a few minutes drive away from her house which situated at the outskirt of a group of houses. The field extended vastly towards the north, with scattered dim streetlights at the back, this convenient spot for stargazing was as ideal as she could have hoped for. She would have expected to see one or two random observers like her in the field; the meteor shower at the constellation Cygnus accompanied with a clear, moonless sky tonight should be quite a gaiety for astronomy enthusiasts.
Perhaps I am the only one interested in this neighbourhood, Shannon mused while sinking deeper into her seat. She welcomed the solitude she found here, allowing her sense to expand and her mind reaching far and deep into the fathomless night sky. She imagined herself being wrapped around by the starry blanket above her, feeling humbled and insignificant but eerily in peace all the while. Invisible chains that had been strangling her emotionally seemed to ease a bit; estrangement from work, but mostly from people.
One person in particular.
She abruptly pulled her trains of thought to a halt and consciously steered her mind away from the danger zone. Tonight was dedicated for relaxation and spiritual renewal, which she could not afford taunting her long-awaited meteor shower with such noxious reflection. She confirmed the time again from her phone in night mode. Should be about to start, she reassured herself while her eyes quickly identified Deneb, Cygnus brightest star, and started to track the Northern Cross.
Thud.
A dull, heavy sound, not too loud but definitely unmistakable, was heard from her back. She instinctively swirled and landed her gaze onto her car. Nothing amiss. She thought while venturing her gaze slightly upwards, caught her breath, and in the next second gave out the shrillest scream she had never imagined herself capable of before.
A human-shaped figure was standing still on top of her car gazing down at her. Shannon was not sure what horrified her more, that someone suddenly appeared without any prior notification, or someone boorishly standing on top of her car, or both. She quickly covered her mouth with her hands, meanwhile her gaze never faltered from the shocking sight she was trying to process.
Under minimal streetlights from afar, it was so dark that Shannon should not be able to recognize anything no matter how hard she stared, but disconcertingly she could faintly identify the human figure as a man with pale skin and silver hair all swept back. From her angle she observed him as tall and leanly built. She then realised why her heart throbbed ever so quickly while she stared at his face; in this pitch-dark setting, this man's skin and hair were emitting a soft, ethereal glow. The silver sheen was faint and might not be noticeable under a moonlit sky, but without the moon and streetlights nearby he seemed to light himself up. Shannon now sweaty palms clammed tigher around her mouth to avoid another round of panic screams, though her attempt of calming her frenzy thoughts was futile as they jumbling around a single word: ghost. Ghost! Shannon scrambled her mind for the long forgotten Lord's Prayer she had been taught at primary school and jittering it repeatedly in her mind.
What?
A masculine voice, firm yet melodic, came from the ghost. He seemed to repeat his sentence, then tried again with something different. It looked as if he was trying to ask her something. Oh dear, he is talking to me! All Shannon wanted was to turn around and fled as quickly as she could, but behind her was the empty, dark field, while civilization was actually behind the ghost. And he is standing on top on my car. How am I going to get away from this? Shannon thought miserably and felt absolutely trapped.
The ghost leaped down lightly from the car as if he contained no weight, which Shannon did not miss to observe despite her near paranoid state. Now standing on the same level she noticed him to be strikingly tall. He started to walk towards her, incomprehensible words kept flowing from his mouth and opened his arms. He wants to lure and catch me! Shannon stepped back while the ghost stepped towards her. She suddenly tripped and started to fall backwards. She frantically spread her arms and braced herself for the impact. But instead of hitting hard onto the ground, she found herself stopping mid air.
The ghost, who should be around ten paces from her, managed to shorten their distance within half a second and now wrapping his arm around her waist. The remaining shreds of logic finally evaporated and Shannon, in her full panic mode, started screaming and scratching and hitting. If she was calm enough to observe, she could see the ghost actually winced at her screams with a troubling look marking his face. He did not move an inch from Shannon's aggression, his arm still holding her waist to keep her balance. At last he decided to move again, first putting Shannon back to her feet, then once he freed his arm he swiftly caught hold of her wrists and tried to talk to her again in a softer voice.
Something in his tone dripped back a bit of self-consciousness into Shannon's mind. She stopped her assaults, though still hyperventilating a little, and gradually taking in her surroundings. She felt something from her wrists. Warmth. The large hands wrapped around her thin wrists form a warm, pleasant cuff, which further knocked more sense into her. Ghost could not be warm. She pondered. The ghost kept speaking to her gently, the language he used was not known to her but she found it indescribably soothing to hear. She dared herself further by slowing pull her gaze from his chest and looked up to his face through her eyelashes.
She gasped and drank in the detail of her ghost. High cheekbones, tall straight nose, strong jawline, articulately arched lips and perfect complexion were all exceedingly remarkable, but what struck her most was his eyes. Stormy gray eyes piercing into her, expressive they seemed yet strangely unreadable at the same time. Being gazed down by those eyes were unnerving, but his gaze was not unkind and held certain degree of sincerity that lessened a lot of their intimidating qualities. The overall combination of his features were too perfect that made him look surreal, like CG characters drawn by top graphic designers. Too good to be human.
Having calmed down significantly, Shannon started to pull away. The stranger (she did hesitate if she should tick off the possibility of him being a ghost that easily) seemed to took her cue and released her hands, and Shannon quickly fell a few steps backwards to gain back her personal space. The stranger said something again, looking a bit exasperated.
"Who are you? And I don't understand what you are talking about." Her voice came out steadier than she imagined. The stranger looked at her blankly.
"Do you speak English?"
The stranger slightly frowned and said something in his language, looking concerned. Without waiting for her reply, the stranger turned around, stared at her car for a moment and then looked keenly towards the streetlights and roads afar. Shannon took the opportunity and observed the stranger's appearance more.
Now seeing his back, she noticed his silver hair was long, very long for normal male in modern societies, with braids around his crown to hold the hair in place. Her eyes fell onto his ears. Are they… pointy? Before she could process this information her gaze continued downwards along his back. He was carrying something like a quiver of arrows with a bow attached to it. As awkward as it might sound, through the dim glow from his hair Shannon tried to figure out what he was wearing. He wore something looked like a tunic, trousers and long boots. He wore a belt with some kind of metal buckled at the left of his hip. He has a gun? Shannon shuddered at the thought, but as she worked out the curves and hilt of the object, it looked more like a dirk.
Pointy ears, long hair, carrying arrows and knife completed with a medieval look…. Is he some kind of cosplayer for RPG games?
Shannon allowed herself to draw a safer assumption, calming her nerves a bit more. The cosplayer (she felt slightly better calling him something she was more familiar with) whirled back to her and said something anxiously. He is quite into his character, isn't it? How long does he want to carry on his game? Shannon tilted her head slightly and returned a blank look to him. He turned his head towards the tall pine trees at his right and started jogging towards them. She continued to look at his back getting farther and farther away while debating with herself whether or not she should take the chance and retreat. There were still a lot of questions she wanted to ask him, including how could he managed to glow in the dark (the cosmetic industries must have some recent breakthroughs she was not aware of). She also wanted to reprimand his impoliteness of stepping onto other people's vehicle, however her girly instincts told her that it was not totally safe to remain in this pitch-dark field alone with a suspicious male, no matter how stunning he looked.
She took her lounger, folded it carefully, and carried it to her car as quietly as she could. She kept staring at him while she doing her work, like a squirrel inching cautiously away when its predator was not paying attention. The cosplayer now stood still in front of the tree with his palms pressing onto the trunk. What is he doing there? Shannon wondered. Her eyes grew wide as saucers as she witnessed what he was doing next.
He was climbing swiftly up the tree, like monkeys. It might not be fair to describe his actions like monkeys, as his movement bore grace that could shame the best Olympic gymnasts, yet she had not seen anyone who could climb up a near 40 meters tall tree with such ease and speed, apart from documentaries about monkeys she had watched before. She watched in awe as he reached the top of the pine tree in mere seconds, and he stayed at the top motionless, looking towards the direction of roads and houses.
The situation was getting creepier again. Shannon turned and quickly loaded her lounger into her car. A small voice in her worried if he could get down safely by himself, but a larger voice urged her to focus more on her own perseverance. She got into her car and started the engine. She took another glance of the cosplayer and paused.
Is he looking to my direction now? Wait… what!? Is he jumping down from that height?
He was not exactly doing a free fall from the top of the tree, but jumping down effortlessly from branch to branch, each seemed to be quite far apart.
Now he is definitely doing better than a monkey.
Shannon quickly released the brake and pulled away. Her heartbeat started to quicken again as her assumption of this person started to sway again, now leaning back more towards the non-human category. She increased her speed in hope of reaching the road faster, but suddenly a human figure appeared in front of her car. Everything happened too quickly, and she reflexively tried to reach the brake but she knew she could not avoid hitting the person.
Her car stopped abruptly and Shannon's body threw forward and then backward forcefully into the carseat absorbing the impact. Under the blinding headlamps she recognized the one standing in front of her car was the cosplayer. She frantically fell out of the car and ran to him.
"Oh my gosh! Are you alright?" Shannon shrieked and looked anxiously between him and her car. The cosplayer looked at her impassively with his right hand pressing down her car, forming a hand-shaped dent on the hood. Her BMW Coupé was supposed to be quite sturdily built, but now it was dented as if it had hit a large boulder instead of a fleshy human. That couldn't be. And shouldn't he still be far at the trees? Shannon was dumbfounded. He started talking to her again, his hands gesturing her car and he looked slightly remorseful.
Is he apologizing for denting my car?
Shannon's thought was running in rampage again, going through facets of her observation and tried to do a quick analysis.
Skin and hair glowing in the dark. Pointy ears. Unnaturally beautiful. Medieval look. Incomprehensible language. Inhuman speed, strength and agility.
All these seemed to point to someone not from this country.
Not from this planet.
She trembled with this sudden realisation and gaped at him, while he stared back with a tinge of concern.
HE IS AN ALIEN!
Shannon had always been a great science fiction fans, with "Contact" as her all time favourite movie. Since she was a little girl she had been dreaming of what she would do if she could meet an alien. She would imagine aliens that managed to arrive this planet be sensible enough to stay discreet and low profile, avoid meddling with humans or at least keep their presence known to few. She thought those Hollywood's films of aliens attacking humans (and all managed to fail) were utterly ridiculous. If a civilization could wield such knowledge and power to land on another planet across the universe, how would it possible they could be defeated or outsmarted by humans, whose furthest they could set foot on was just their nearby satellite? When facing a race which possessed technology and knowledge probably hundreds of generations more advanced than Men, Shannon believed the best approach was try to be civil and made peace with them rather than acting hostile.
The alien in front of her was nothing like what she had imagined. He was nothing like the typical goblin or E.T. like creatures most media liked to depict as. Why dressed as a medieval man? Was that really his homeland's normal attire, or he tried to blend in human society but got the era off by a millennium? Which planet did he come from? What was his mission on Earth? Endless questions kept popping up in her mind. But first of all, Shannon decided she need to say something to him and express herself as a civilised human with no ill intentions. She then recalled their earlier encounter and flinched at the thought of hitting and screaming at him. She was determined to make this straight again.
Shannon straightened herself up and cracked the sweetest smile she could manage. The alien seemed puzzled at the sudden change of moods of this little human again and looked warily to her.
"Um… hello, sorry for forgetting my manners previously," she tried to use her most cheerful, friendly tone. "Errm… how are you?" The alien kept staring at her with utter confusion. She started to fidget. Oh dear I have to do this right. She tried to smile even brighter, ignoring how ludicrous she looked and how awkward the whole situation was. She then pointed to herself.
"My name is Shannon Fraser. You can call me Shannon."
And then she pointed to him, gesturing him for his turn. The alien kept staring. She repeated her name a few times more, wavering her hands back and forth in hopes of helping to make her message clearer. Is there a universal, I mean, interplanetary way of doing self introduction? She started to worry.
Then as if finally realized what she meant, the alien virtually relaxed, his expression became gentler with a small smile gracing his handsome face. Are all aliens this good-looking? Shannon was mesmerized.
"Shannon." The alien pointed to her and pronounced her name in thick accent. Shannon brightened and nodded enthusiastically. The alien seemed to channel her excitement. His eyes twinkled and pointed to himself.
"Legolas."